HELENA — In your mailbox, online, on your phone and on TV — political ads have been hard to avoid for Montanans this year.

“I’m going to break the mute button on my TV because they keep showing the same stupid commercials over and over again,” said Helena resident Jane Anthony.

“This is definitely a bore,” said Jim Cottingham, also of Helena. “You know, you just want to hear a song or something and then it’s ‘Shady Sheehy’ or ‘Two-Term Tester’ or something like that.”

With a week left until Election Day, MTN spoke with many Montana voters who feel the same.

“I’m totally blown away by all of this,” said Helena resident Thelma Sagan.

This year, Montana has been at the center of one of the most expensive races in the United States: the campaign for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democratic Senator Jon Tester. The race between Tester and his Republican challenger Tim Sheehy could determine which party controls the Senate next year, which has thrust Montana into the national political spotlight.

As of last week’s final pre-election campaign finance deadline, total spending in the race exceeded $255 million; this shattered the previous mark of more than $160 million spent at this point. In the 2020 US Senate race between Republican Senator Steve Daines and Democratic Governor Steve Bullock.

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Between them, the two major party campaigns have spent more than $100 million since the start of 2023; Almost $79.2 million for Tester’s campaign and $21.9 million for Sheehy’s. OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan organization, tracks spending by outside groups and found: $155 million more in independent spending – Almost evenly split between pro-Sheehy and pro-Tester.

OpenSecrets lists the Montana Senate race as the third most expensive congressional election in the country this year (https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/most-expensive-races?cycle=2024&display=allcandsout), trailing only Senate campaigns in Ohio and Pennsylvania. But when you look at how much is spent per voter, Montana clearly tops the list. Together, the campaigns and outside groups donated about $226 per person in the state. In Ohio, this figure is close to $34, and in Pennsylvania it is around $22.

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These numbers don’t even take into account money spent in other races in Montana:

• In the western congressional district (https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2024&id=MT01), incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke spent almost $7.6 million and Democrat Monica Tranel spent almost $4.9 million, with another $4 million coming from outside spending.
• In the eastern congressional district, Republican State Auditor Troy Downing spent $2.5 million in the primary and general election and received more than $750,000 in support from outside groups (https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2024&id=MT02). Democrat John Driscoll opted to spend no more than $5,000, the federal reporting minimum, while write-in candidate Reilly Neill reported spending just under $9,500.
• In the Montana governor’s race, incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and Democratic challenger Ryan Busse have spent nearly $2.5 million since the start of the election cycle.
• The main committee supporting CI-128, a measure that would include abortion rights in the Montana Constitution, spent more than $11 million; And sponsors of CI-126 and CI-127, a pair of ballot measures to overhaul Montana’s election system, spent more than $11 million. He spent more than $6 million.

Voters interviewed by MTN were not only fed up with the intensity of political ads, they were also annoyed by their tone.
“This isn’t the WWF in the 1980s,” Cottingham said. “This needs to be an intellectual discussion; ‘The problem is, what are we going to do about it?’ like.”

“None of that matters,” Anthony said.

The number of potential voters who can be influenced by political advertisements is decreasing day by day. As of Oct. 28, more than 284,000 Montanans had returned ballots, more than a third of the state’s registered voters.

With just a week left until the campaigns begin their promotions, there is light at the end of the tunnel for fed-up Montanans.

“I can’t wait to get the results back and then we can get back to our normal routines,” Sagan said.